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Saturday, December 3, 2011

Stacy & Levi - Contemporary gay romance

When Stacy James broke his own rules about minding his own business, he landed in the hot seat with Levi Wright - six-feet of blue-eyed trouble more than willing to fan the flames. Sometimes, you learn to like the heat.

Shining Victory and No One But You
m/m contemporary available now at Amber Allure

Stacy James survived a life-shattering accusation to become a successful businessman with a lot to offer a partner. He's finally put his ghosts to rest, and is ready for someone in his life, if the right man comes along.

Young and wild, ace mechanic Levi Wright builds engines made for speed. When Levi's volatile temper lands him nose-to-nose with trouble, Stacy ignores his own rules and steps in to save Levi from making a big mistake. But Stacy can't ignore Levi's smoldering sexuality as the younger man then pursues him.

And Levi has made it clear he's out to get his man.

EXCERPT:

My young companion held the door for me as we entered the pub, stepping into a quiet, smoke-filled room. The pool table just inside the door was free.

“Rack ’em, Levi. Will a draft be okay?”

He nodded as he deftly arranged the balls for the first strike. I paid for the beers and selected a cue. My own stick lay tucked in its case in the trunk of the Corvette, but I didn’t want to appear showoff-ish to Levi. The car already pushed that envelope far enough. Levi tossed a coin in the air.

“Call it!”

“Heads.” The quarter landed heads up. I lined up for the break and popped it.
As luck would have it, the twelve and the fifteen balls dropped into the pockets. Levi glanced slyly at me from under his lashes.

“That means you have to get all the striped balls in the pockets before you can hit the little black ball in, Stacy James.”

I narrowed my eyes at him and ran the highballs.

“Eight in the side.” I tapped the hole I would shoot for with the cue, then drove the little black ball home. “Rack ’em, again, if you dare,” I challenged him.

Levi set up the table again while I sipped my beer. Something simmered just under the surface of his flushed skin. I moved to break and his hand covered mine. Our gazes locked for several seconds. He squeezed my fingers, and I released the cue.

“My turn, old man.”

“Okay, puppy. Show me what you can do.”

Levi lined up and made the break. The three ball dropped in the pocket. He surveyed the table and tapped a pocket. “One ball.”

The one dropped and he tapped another hole. “Two ball.”

Again, the ball dropped.

“Four in the far corner.” Levi tapped the cue ball. It bounced off the side and hit the four. The ball dropped.

I perched on a bar stool and watched him run the table, in order, until he missed the ten. He moved with effortless grace, cool and focused on the shots. I did my best not to stare at his ass, or the bump at the base of his zipper. When he missed the ten by scant centimeters, I spoke.

“Set it up and try it again.”

Levi nodded and reset the shot. This time, the ten dropped. He finished the table and tossed the cue stick on the vanquished field of play. I handed him his draft. He leaned against the bar and downed a few swallows. His burning gaze never left mine.

Lovers Stacy James and Levi Wright keep their relationship hot and spicy by enjoying the little things in life. Levi welcomes Stacy home from a business trip by delighting his partner with a quick trick in the men’s room of a local pool hall. An offhand comment by a stranger cools Stacy’s ardor, and sets in motion a chain reaction that rocks the very foundation of Levi’s world. He’s never cheated on Stacy, but Stacy has sudden doubts.

On his own, Levi is tested in his discoveries – about Stacy, their relationship, and about the kind of man he wants to be. One thing he knows for certain. He’s not losing Stacy over a careless whisper that isn’t true, but will the only man he’ll ever love forgive his angry words?

Stacy made the worst mistake of his life telling his lover to find another place to sleep. Levi might be younger, but he’s a man, with a man’s pride. Stacy draws on all his experience to walk a road full of detours and pitfalls to meet Levi halfway, and bring him home. Because for Stacy, there’s no one but Levi.

EXCERPT

“Can you just let go of your notion that I’m missing out on life? I don’t feel like I am.”

“You stop, Levi. You listen, just this once. You’re so afraid I’ll be pissed if I see you get a hard-on for some other guy, you run from me when I want to talk about it. Do you think that in five years I’ve never seen another man that gave me a little tingle? It happens to everyone, lover. It’s not something to be ashamed of.”

My voice didn’t want to work. “I’m not you.”

“No, you’re not. I’ve never cheated on you, Levi.” He looked at me for the longest moments of my life, his eyes gone black with some emotion I had no name for.

I knew. I knew.

"I heard what the bartender said the other night. You need to know that if it ever happens, and you trick some guy, you don’t need to keep it from me. I expect you to first, be safe, and second, to tell me so we can be more careful.”

Ice water tossed in my face would not have chilled me more than his words.

"What the fuck is going on here, Stacy? I've never cheated on you. Never. And I'm not starting now."

“Levi, we've been together a long time, and as a couple, we've enjoyed unprotected sex for quite a while now. Do I need to be concerned?"

A fine trembling seized my body. This conversation was out of control, the potential for disaster increasing by the second. My stomach clenched in on itself until I fought back the dry heaves. The world spiraled around me, going black at the edges. I broke free of his hands.

"I love you. I never cheat on you. And yet you sit there and ask me if it's possible I could have given you the clap - or something worse? Maybe I should be the one worrying! And you have to do it here? You motherfucker! I have to go in there and work!" I choked, unable to breathe. "I never…"

Stacy's arms came around me. I shoved him away, holding him at bay. The words came as I managed a deep breath. Horrible words that I couldn’t stop from pouring out of me in my anger and pain that he didn’t know me well enough to believe how much I loved him.

“Why don’t you go get a fucking blood test since you can’t trust me! Now you listen to me. You decide whether or not you love me enough to have me hang around, because if I’ve gotten a little old for you, you should tell me. I’ll step aside so you can go find yourself another sixteen year old!”

He drew back like I’d struck him, which I had. I’d lashed out, hitting him with the most damaging words I owned. He’d been falsely accused of having sex with a sixteen-year-old boy when he was twenty. The boy had lied – Stacy hadn’t touched him – but the accusation had almost ruined Stacy’s life. The pain lingered, and I, who loved him so much, knew the wound lingered in him, unhealed at its deepest point.

And I used it against him.

I reached for him and this time he batted my hands away.

“I’m sorry, Stace. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean that.”

“You said it, so you did mean it. Now get out of the car. I can’t be with you right now.”

My stomach roiled. “Stacy, please. We need to go back home and talk this out.”
He refused to look at me. The cold rage in his voice didn’t completely disguise the hurt.

“No, we don’t. Going home won’t fix this, Levi. I need some time alone. Do us both a favor and find someplace else to sleep.”

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